Fluids : "Reduced Capabilities"

Four albums deep these guys are a pretty respected grind-core band. Their short blasting style leans more in the death metal side of the genre and owes less to punk. That is aside from the minute-long songs. The first song does not even feel like a complete thought of a song. You do not hear the nuance and understanding of songwriting basics until the second song. The wheel is not being re-invented here by any means.  By the time we get to "Rendered" the vocals are clearly just content at the low gurgle, though the tense chug almost creates a groove here, but they prefer speeding up into an organized chaos. 

This sort of thing is as influenced by Cannibal Corpse as it is by Napalm Death, perhaps weighing closer sonically on the Cannibal Corpse side. "Measured Anipathy" is a more deliberate and more effective display of songwriting, as it compensates for the one-dimensional vocal style. They are a little more hammering for "Generational Taint". Which works pretty well, the guitar tones on this album are pretty sick as they are as dense as you can get, and still be musical. "Soot" does find what the limitations are for this kind of death metal. They continue down this dead end for "Devalued" but manage to groove it a little more making it more interesting.

The title track falls into blasting from the get-go, then slows into a syncopated crunch that is a call and response to the blasting. "Parted" has more of a Morbid Angel feel to its slow monster groove. The vocals are the only element that hinders this riff, as it is now making all the songs sound the same, though they just end up blasting the night away. "Unresponsive" finds its well-chugged half-time groove. They do continue the formula of making this a call and response from blasting sections. They close the album with a cover of Moby's "God Moving Over the Face of the Waters".  This proves they are capable of doing more than blasting their lives away. It ends in the way you might think it would. I will give this album an 8, it has it's moments and sounds good for what it is.  

 pst177